Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

Bear-san, Gathering Information

“Here, I’ve got a job for you.” (Knight)

The knight said, and then he randomly placed a wolf’s carcass out of his item bag on a nearby table.

“I’m bringing you a job, so be grateful and dismantle it.” (Knight)

Other knights laughed and placed the wolves on the table one after another.

That table was not the counter on which monsters’ corpses were to be placed. It was originally a table for adventurers to eat and drink.

There was a separate counter to put monsters on. If I had been the receptionist, I would have punched them. However, the receptionist did not sound angry and thanked the Knights instead.

“Thank you for everything.” (Receptionist)

“I heard that the adventurers in this town can’t even defeat a Wolf, you see.” (Knight)

One of the knights laughed as he looked around at the adventurers, and then the other knights followed.

The Captain who was able to detect my magic was not with them. Judging from the Knight’s behavior, I could assume that he might also be a bad person.

I pulled Noa’s body closer to me, who was peeping at them, and hid her behind a pillar so that she wouldn’t be noticed.

We waited for the knights to leave the Adventurers’ Guild.

After confirming that the knights had left the guild while laughing, we came out from behind the pillar.

The knights were gone, there were slain wolves lying on the table, and the receptionist was making a certain finger gesture toward the door through which the knights had exited.

I understood the gesture, so I silently blocked Noa’s eyes. After all, that was not good for education.

As soon as I noticed that the receptionist had stopped making that gesture, I headed over to her.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ve shown you my embarrassing side.” (Receptionist)

When the receptionist realized that we were watching her, she laughed to cover it up.

“Who are those knights?” (Yuna)

“Those knights… Well, they have basically stolen the adventurers’ jobs, and have been doing it on their own.” (Receptionist)

“Stealing adventurers’ jobs…” (Noa)

“That’s right. The lord of this town has his knights kill monsters, so there are no jobs for adventurers.” (Receptionist)

“Oh no, I can’t believe that the lord of a town would take away adventurers’ jobs.” (Noa)

Noa, a lord’s daughter, puffed out her cheeks as she complained about the way this lord was doing things.

“Since no one can defy them, most adventurers have moved to other towns, and the only ones left here are those without power.” (Receptionist)

The receptionist glanced at the adventurers in the corner.

They seemed indifferent, not looking at us, even though there was such a commotion.

“And they are forcing the Adventurers’ Guild to dismantle the monsters they defeated. But well, if it weren’t for those dismantling jobs, we wouldn’t be able to maintain this Adventurers’ Guild branch, so we can’t complain openly about it.” (Receptionist)

So that’s why she thanked the knights when she received the monsters from them and made that gesture when they left.

“As the Adventurers’ Guild, can’t you sue them?” (Yuna)

“Every town has its own rules. We are the sole guild in this town. There is the option of shutting down operations in this town, but our Guild Master said that as long as there is at least one adventurer in this guild, we should continue to operate. Those of us who agree with his idea remained here, while the rest moved out.” (Receptionist)

Even after all of that had happened, I did notice that the adventurers were just drinking as if it were the usual when the knights arrived at the guild. And based on that, I could conclude that those adventurers we saw did nothing but drink all day.

“Besides, if you stay in this town, you will be deprived of your magic power, so the magicians immediately left.” (Receptionist)

“Deprived of your magic power?” (Yuna)

“Oh, since you live in a nearby village, you probably don’t know about this. I thought it was pretty well known around here though.” (Receptionist)

“About that…” (Yuna)

“Then again, if you’ve never been to this town, how would you know? About a few years ago, there was an order given to the townspeople to give away their magic power.” (Receptionist)

I never expected to hear about magic power being drained from the citizens of this town forcefully.

“The order applied to everyone, from ordinary people to adventurers. That’s why the magicians fled the town, as well as the members of their party. The only ones left were adventurers who couldn’t use magic. And those Fairy Knights are the ones doing the work after the normal adventurers are also gone.” (Receptionist)

“Fairy Knights?” (Noa)

“That’s what those knights call themselves. And because those knights are taking care of the work of the adventurers, I can’t really complain.” (Receptionist)

“That’s terrible.” (Noa)

“But no one can go against them. Instead of going against them, the adventurers simply decided to move to another town. The guilds couldn’t fight, either. If the lord orders us to leave, the Adventurers’ Guild will have no choice but to do so. If that happens, the remaining adventurers in this town will have nowhere to go.” (Receptionist)

“Can’t those adventurers be able to go to other towns, as well?” (Noa)

“Some people just don’t want to leave their hometowns. They were born here, grew up here, and have families here. We have to endure for the sake of those people.” (Receptionist)

I couldn’t really comment.

However, there was something that bothered me… Fairy Knights. Primme’s sister, who happened to be a fairy, was also in this town. So I was thinking whether there might be a connection between the two.

“That’s all I can talk about. I’m sorry. I have some dismantling to do.” (Receptionist)

I was about to ask more about the Fairy Knights, but the receptionist stopped talking to us and called out to the surrounding adventurers.

The adventurers started moving around and carried the wolves from the table.

It seemed like she was going to let them do the job.

I wanted to ask about the Fairy Knights, but I couldn’t interfere with their work, so I decided to leave the Adventurers’ Guild for now.

“Yuna-san, those Fairy Knights…” (Noa)

I knew Noa was also curious about it.

“There’s a chance that they might be related to Primme’s sister.” (Yuna)

“I can sense my sister’s magic power from those guys!” (Primme)

Primme shouted from Noa’s pouch, so Noa hurriedly held the pouch down. Fortunately, no one noticed Primme.

“Well, we don’t have enough information right now, so we need to collect more information. Let’s head to an inn for today. We’ll think about what to do next after finding some accommodation.” (Yuna)

Noa didn’t object, and Primme agreed, albeit reluctantly.

We arrived at an inn that was the closest to the Adventurers’ Guild of the several inns we had been told about at the town’s entrance gate.

There was a possibility that Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear would not be allowed to stay at the inn, so we temporarily returned them before entering the inn.

Once inside, a girl about Noa’s age was helping out around.

“Welcome!”

She called out when she noticed us entering the inn.

But soon, when she saw my outfit, she looked surprised.

“Bear?”

“It’s just the two of us, can we stay here?” (Yuna)

I asked, ignoring the girl’s reaction.

“Oh, yes. That’s fine. Oh, mom, we have two guests!”

The girl called to the back of the room, and a woman who I guessed was her mother came over.

“Welcome. Let me show you to your room now…”

A woman came over, calling out to us, but suddenly froze when she saw my outfit.

I again ignored her reaction and called out to her.

“Please show us to our room.” (Yuna)

“Ah, yes. Are you two alone? Or will you be with your parents?” (Inn Lady)

I knew she would ask that question.

“Just the two of us. You don’t have to worry since we have sufficient money for us to stay. We came from a nearby village to take over her father’s errands.” (Yuna)

I answered politely while presenting Noa when talking about the father figure so as not to arouse her suspicion. When I presented her some money, she seemed to have accepted our story and showed us to our room.

“That’s great of you to take over your father’s place. Well then, call me if you need anything.” (Inn Lady)

The woman looked at my outfit curiously, but did not ask in depth about it.

Primme came out of Noa’s pouch after making sure the woman was out of the room.

“Everyone is surprised when they see Yuna’s outfit for the first time…” (Primme)

“Because no one wears clothes like Yuna-san.” (Noa)

I wondered if there was a dreamland town somewhere with its citizens dressed up in a costume.

I already knew it was a pipe dream since even I mentioned it being a dreamland.

I re-summoned Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear for security measures before we discussed the future. Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear curled up next to me.

“Now then, I’d like to get serious about finding Primme’s sister… Noa, can you tell where she is?” (Yuna)

After I asked, Noa closed her eyes and began to concentrate.

Normally, she would say “over there” right away, but this time it took her a little longer. She tilted her head and looked as if she was having a hard time.

“SO, how is it?” (Yuna)

“Well, I don’t know. I can feel it from many places.” (Noa)

“Many places?” (Yuna)

“I feel it all over the place.” (Noa)

“What do you mean?” (Yuna)

“It’s difficult to explain, but I could tell which direction it was coming from before, but now I can feel it from all over the town.” (Noa)

“So you can’t tell where my sister is?” (Primme)

“Well, I don’t know right now, but when we get closer, I might be able to find her. And then…” (Noa)

“Is there anything you think you can do to detect her?” (Yuna)

“Well, I don’t know if my assumption is right, but I did sense for a moment a stronger presence. It may have been Primme-san’s sister using magic. So, perhaps, if she uses her magic power again, I might be able to find where she is.” (Noa)

It was certainly possible that when someone used their magic, they would give off a stronger presence.

“Well then, it’s late today, so we’ll start gathering information tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow we should go to the Adventurer’s Guild again and talk to them. I’m also curious about those Fairy Knights.” (Yuna)

“Yes, that’s right. There might be a connection between the Fairy Knights and Primme-san’s sister.” (Noa)

Fairies and Fairy Knights, I didn’t think they were unrelated.

“Do you both think that my sister is with a bad human?” (Primme)

“People often have a connected reasoning behind naming things, but just because something has the same name doesn’t mean that they are connected to each other. It is just one of many possibilities.” (Yuna)

There were meaningless names as well, of course.

Like Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear for example. The “Bear” comes from them being bears, of course, but “Swaying Bear” and “Hugging Bear” have no particular meaning.

But when you name knights ‘Fairy Knights‘, it was natural to assume that they had something to do with fairies… Sorry Primme, but knowing that Primme’s sister was in this town, it only increased the chances of connection.

We had a quick meal at the inn and went to sleep to prepare for tomorrow.

The next morning, I woke up a sleepy Noa, returned Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, had a late breakfast, and headed for the Adventurers’ Guild.

We walked around with Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, which I summoned again in their cub forms, after we left the inn.

It was a defensive measure after all. If Noa ever got separated from me, Swaying Bear or Hugging Bear would be able to protect her.

And, as usual, people continued to glance at me as we walked around.

As we walked, I kept my Bear Hood lowered to cover my face.

And then.

“Yu, Yuna-chan!” (???)

Someone hugged me, shouting my name.

“What!” (Yuna)

I tried to shake her off, but the person hugging me looked familiar.

“Oh, it’s Yuna-chan. It’s the real one.” (Rosa)

“Rosa-san?” (Yuna)

The person who hugged me was Rosa-san, with whom I had worked together to defeat bandits when the town of Mileela was under attack by the Kraken.

Behind her was Blitz, the handsome harem man, and Ran and Grimos were there as well.